Susan Lindquist, professor of biology and member of the Whitehead Institute, has been chosen to receive the 2006 Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Academic Achievement.
The award will be presented at the society's annual meeting next year, where Lindquist will deliver the Procter Prize address.
Sigma Xi's highest honor, the Procter Prize recognizes scientific achievement and an ability to communicate the importance of that research to others. MIT recipients of the prize have included Alexander Rich, the William Thompson Sedgwick Professor of Biophysics (2001); Philip Morrison, Institute Professor emeritus in physics (1997); and Victor F. Weisskopf, Institute Professor emeritus in physics (1984).
Lindquist's research focuses on the impact of protein-conformational changes on diverse processes in cellular and organismal biology. She employs a combination of genetics, molecular and cell biology and biophysics to understand the mechanisms of chaperone proteins, prion propagation and human disease.
She is former director of the Whitehead Institute.
The award was endowed in 1950 by William Procter, a distinguished natural scientist and heir to one of the founders of Procter and Gamble. The prize consists of a certificate of award, a Steuben glass sculpture and $5,000.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on December 7, 2005 (download PDF).
